Silence

“If you love truth, love silence. This will make you illumined in God like the sun and will deliver you from the illusions of ignorance. Silence unites you to God Himself.”

— St. John Climacus

How often we find ourselves lost in the cacophony of the world. Its noise is of a special sort. It is a noise of confusion, a noise of profound dissatisfaction with things as they are, a noise fraught with the illusions of a better life if only … A noise of pride. I know what is best and if God would simply give me what I want then all will be well. As if God is a merchant to whom we go seeking wares.

Rarely, does one sit quietly for a long enough time to begin plumbing the depths of one’s soul in order to discover what sorts of cobwebs linger about and what sort of cleansing is necessary in order to begin seeing oneself, the world, and God Himself more clearly; in order to make an abode in which Christ can reside and, by doing so, usher in peace and grace and joy. Indeed, it is only through Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life that one can experience a profound and lasting joy, a joy that for which we yearn, yet seek through means other than the God-Man. The tradition of our Holy Church tells us that it is only through silence that attaining true unity with Christ is possible. In turn, such unity brings peace, joy, grace, and comfort.

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Become Orthodox is a project to develop a complete online catechetical resource for those inquiring into the Orthodox Christian faith within Oriental Orthodox family of churches. It is also the personal blog of a lowly Coptic Orthodox priest.